Description
Book SynopsisJulietta Singh challenges the drive toward the mastery over self and others by showing how the forms of self-mastery advocated by anticolonial thinkers like Fanon and Gandhi unintentionally reproduced colonial logic, thereby leading her to argue for a more productive human subjectivity that is not centered on concepts of mastery.
Trade Review"A deft intervention in several different fields,
Unthinking Mastery powerfully examines the insidious ways that the legacies of colonialism have infiltrated critical conversations in affect, queer, and ecocritical studies." -- Melinda Backer * ASAP/Journal *
"Singh’s work stands out in its truly transdisciplinary approach and simultaneous mobilization of feminist, posthuman, and decolonial thought." -- Justyna Poary-Wybranowska * Contemporary Women's Writing *
"While the approach of
Unthinking Mastery is clearly interdisciplinary, the author turns foremost to the field of comparative literature to unravel forms of systemic dehumanizing violence that become obvious in forms of embodiment and language/narration. ... Her engagement not only touches on feminist and queer theories but also provides a powerful interconnection between environmental and postcolonial studies." -- Monika Jaeckel * Anthropocenes *
Table of ContentsAcknowledgments vii
Introduction. Reading against Mastery 1
1. Decolonizing Mastery 29
2. The Language of Mastery 65
3. Posthumanitarian Fictions 95
4. Humanimal Dispossessions 121
5. Cultivating Discomfort 149
Coda. Surviving Mastery 171
Notes 177
References 187
Index 197
